Friday, January 4, 2013

India will win in Modi's Gujarat

(First appeared in The Pioneer dated November 22, 2102)

RAJESH SINGH

Who do you think is going to win?” I asked the auto-rickshaw driver who
took me on November 19 from the airport in Ahmedabad to the hotel.
“India jeetega”, he responded with a confident grin. I wondered if he
was right. Of course he could be right, except that England had put up a
strong show in its second innings (eventually India did win). But
cricket was not on my mind then. My question related to December’s
Assembly election in Gujarat. I corrected him gently. He replied, “I am
referring to the election. Narendra Modi will win. And, that will be a
victory for India, because he stands for a proud, progressive and
self-reliant India.”
It is difficult to find a contrary opinion in Ahmedabad, at least. The
owner of a general provision store, who for reasons he did not
elaborate, believed that Gujarat will witness a close fight.
“Fifty-fifty hoga”, he claimed. And yet, even he agreed that that the
BJP would win hands down in Ahmedabad and near about. “The combination
of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah is unbeatable in these constituencies”,
he added.
At a corner stall in Goyal Intercity, a sharp, young man in his
mid-twenties, who managed an assortment of tobacco and related products,
was even more dismissive of the prospects of the Congress. “What do the
Congress leaders have to say? Nothing. Sonia Gandhi spoke in Rajkot
recently, but had nothing to promise really to the voters. She spoke of
bringing development, but development is already there under Chief
Minister Modi. Even the remotest village in the State gets at least 10
hours of quality power supply. Industrial activity is booming.
Agriculture is doing well too”, he stated.
The young man was equally contemptuous of the impression that the
conviction of a former Minister in the Modi regime in connection with
the 2002 violence, or Amit Shah’s ongoing trial in the same incident.
“Those are non-issues that do not affect the livelihood of the people.
Let the law take its course. Such issues are discussed by intellectuals
in television studios, not on the streets by voters”, he said.
There is some truth in the assertion that the Congress has nothing to
tell the voters, now that even its party leaders are keeping away from
raking the 2002 incidents. They did that in 2007 and the strategy had
backfired. “So, now you have Congress leaders calling Modi a monkey. Do
you think that the Congress can win over the loyalty of the voters by
calling the Chief Minister a monkey? This only goes to show that they do
not know what those issues are that can attract the people of the
State”, remarked the proprietor of a cosmetics shop located close to a
Shani Dev temple near the Drive-in Cinema. “Why must I vote for the
Congress? Give me one good reason”, a flower vendor selling her wares
outside a Vaibhav Lakshmi Temple challenged me to respond. Does anybody
offer stale flowers to the deity!” According to her, the Congress had
withered under the “fruitful” leadership of Mr Modi and the BJP
Government which he leads. “The Congress must sound and look fresh for
the voters to consider it as an alternative.”
Clearly, the Congress has a problem in the State. If it talks of
development — and it has been making half-hearted attempts — the issue
does not click with the people, who point that the State is progressing
fine under Mr Modi. In fact, the people add that never before as in the
last decade has development been so rapid and focussed. If the party
personalises the campaign, it only further raises the stature of the
Chief Minister. So, what should it do? The flower vendor may have put it
rather simplistically, and she may be reflecting the frustrations of
people like her residing in Ahmedabad. But much the same terms of an
informed analysis, is offered by a war-weary journalist. Ahmedabad-based
Manas Dasgupta has covered the politics and more of Gujarat for close
to four decades now. People, he says, are willing to listen to any
meaningful argument on why they must exercise their option to change the
BJP Government led by Mr Modi. “People are asking: ‘Give us one reason —
just one reason — why we must vote for the Congress,’” Mr Dasgupta
says. He points out that while Congress leaders are going about the
State talking of why the people should vote out the Congress, they are
unable to tell the voters what the Congress has on offer for their
development. “The Congress at the Centre is steeped in corruption; the
party has completely failed to check inflation and price rise across the
country; and the Congress does not have a single State-level leader to
take on Mr Modi. Are these the reasons that will make the people vote
for the Congress!” he exclaims.
Mr Dasgupta is quick to point out that the Chief Minister has
flourished as much from the good governance which he has given the State
as he has through an elaborate image-building exercise. “Not everything
which he claims as his Government’s achievements are true”, he says,
adding, “Consider how he takes the credit for the implementation of the
various Central Government schemes. But then it is also a fact that his
rivals simply do not have the credentials to challenge him on the few
occasions that they can do so with some level of success.” That may be
so, but there is another fact that people in Ahmedabad do not fail to
mention: Mr Modi has ensured that the benefits of most of the schemes,
State-level or Central, have reached the people. “He has succeeded in
the last mile, and that matters the most as far the voters are
concerned”, Mr Dasgupta remarks.
He agrees that issues like the 2002 violence have become non-issues
today, as also the allegation of arrogance that Mr Modi’s detractors
have been leveling against the Chief Minister. “Of course he is arrogant
and brusque with many of his Ministers and the bureaucrats. That’s why
he is so unpopular in Gandhinagar, the seat of power. But he is not
arrogant with the people. Moreover, the people believe that his
arrogance is really his determination to get things done for the good of
the people. They love him for that. They may be wrong in their
analysis, but that is that”, he states.
From the vantage point of Ahmedabad then, the BJP led by Mr Modi seems
to be sitting pretty. But Ahmedabad alone is not Gujarat. And, miracles
do happe

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About Me

Born in Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh.
Brought up in Coimbatore, Cochin and Goa.
Lived in Goa for 36 years: from 1968-2004.
Worked in various positions at the Goa-based English dailies: The Navhind Times and OHerald.
Was Editor of a Goa-based TV news channel Goa 365.
Served as Media Advisor to the Goa Chief in 2002-03.
Served as Director of Information and Publicity, Government of Goa (2002-03).
Now, based in Delhi and working for The Pioneer as Senior Editor